Aizawl: Mizoram State Boundary Committee on Friday unanimously approved an ‘Approach Paper’ for the state’s standpoint on the boundary to be tabled at the upcoming border talks with Assam scheduled to be held in October, an official statement said.
The committee on Friday held a meeting in Aizawl under the leadership of its chairman and deputy CM Tawnluia to review the boundary issue.
During the meeting, representatives of political parties and NGOs expressed their desire to resolve the boundary dispute with neighbouring Assam, the statement said.
The meeting unanimously approved the Approach Paper prepared by the boundary committee to be used as the state’s standpoint during the meeting with the Assam delegation in October.
The meeting also decided to conduct a joint verification of boundary areas claimed by both Mizoram and Assam along with Assam representatives.
It also reviewed the joint statement signed by both Mizoram and Assam delegations during the border talks on August 9 in Aizawl.
The boundary committee involving all political parties and major civil society organisations was formed by the state government after a border standoff in July last year.
Meanwhile, the opposition Congress and People’s Conference party have withdrawn from the boundary committee citing dissatisfaction with the functioning of the committee.
Mizoram shares a 164.6 km long inter-state boundary with Assam. The border dispute between the two states is a long-standing issue, which stemmed from two colonial demarcations- 1875 and 1933. Mizoram held that a 509 square miles stretch of inner line reserved forest notified in 1875 under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation (BEFR) 1873, a certain section of which now falls under Assam, is the actual boundary of the state.
Assam on the other hand claimed that the boundary as per a survey of India’s map in 1933 is the constitutional boundary of the state. Certain areas, which are now occupied by Mizoram, fall under the 1933 demarcation.
The border dispute turned ugly on July 26 last year when police forces of the two neighbouring states exchanged fire near Vairengte on the NH-306 leading to the death of six policemen and a civilian from Assam.
Around 60 people were also injured in the violent clash.
On August 9, both the states held ministerial-level meetings in Aizawl and agreed to promote and maintain peace along the borders.
Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga and his Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma had earlier agreed to hold chief minister-level talks in Delhi either in the last part of August or early September to resolve the vexed border dispute.
Also Read | Govt unable to finance making of Mizoram university campus: Minister